The International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA), Women Network-Nigeria, has appealed to the Federal Government to urgently prohibit and halt the emergence of “autonomous weapons’’ in the country.
The National Coordinator, IANSA Women Network-Nigeria, Ms Mimidoo Achakpa, made the call during a media briefing on the campaign ‘Stop Killer Robots’ on Tuesday in Abuja.
Achakpa explained that `Killer Robots’ are fully autonomous weapons that select and engage targets without human intervention.
She said the campaign was to develop an action to engage relevant government officials and members of parliament towards the formation of a national policy for the pre-emptive prohibition of fully autonomous weapons.
She also called on states to call for a ban at the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and to take action at the national level to ban such autonomous weapons.
“The government needs to work in coordination with Civil Society Organisations and other national stakeholders to support the negotiation of a new treaty.
“It is also important to note that human control is required over individual attacks and that weapon systems that operate without such human control should be prohibited,’’ Achakpa said.
She advised the Nigerian government to work towards a legally binding instrument that prohibits fully autonomous weapons as well as engage substantively in the CCW meetings.
Achakpa said the campaign was an inclusive and diverse coalition across the globe which comprises NGOs, community groups and professional associations that support the call for a ban on Killer Robots.
Mrs Hauwa Mohammed-Ikediugwu, the Project Officer, IANSA, said the campaign which was currently supported by 76 organisations from 32 countries, had commenced negotiations on a new treaty to prohibit weapons systems.
She noted that the use of fully autonomous weapons was not currently an issue in Nigeria as there are no laws on its usage and the Nigerian populace are ignorant of its existence.
On the fully autonomous weapons, Mohammed-Ikediugwu explained that the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) inducted its first indigenous operational Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) nicknamed Tsaigumi, on Feb. 15.
“The Tsaigumi UAV was produced by Nigerian Air Force Aerospace Engineers in collaboration with UAV Vision of Portugal.
“It is intended to be used for Intelligence Surveillance and Recognisance (ISR) operations in land and sea domains.
“The ISR is also for policing operations, disaster management, convoy protection, maritime patrol, pipeline and power line monitoring as well as mapping and border patrol duties.
“Plans are already ongoing to produce the Tsaigumi UAV in mass as well as develop the nation’s first indigenous Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle,’’ Mohammed-Ikediugwu said.
She noted that there have been no incidents on the use of such weapons, but the country was progressively on the path to using them.
She added that Nigeria could eventually be drafted into the use of fully autonomous weapons, if and when the need arises.
“If the trend toward autonomy continues, humans may start to fade out of the decision-making loop for certain military actions and perhaps retaining only a limited oversight role,’’ she said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that IANSA Women Network-Nigeria is an NGO working to stop the proliferation and misuse of arms in the country.
IANSA Women Network-Nigeria exists to reduce the proliferation and impact of small arms on women and children in order to achieve peace and sustainable development. (NAN)
